With 3,755,379 infections, the world is closing in on the four million mark for Covid-19 cases.
Covid-19 cases around the world. More than 3.75 million cases and over 260,000 deaths have been recorded. Photo: Screenshot
That figure is from Johns Hopkins University, which also reports 263,831 deaths from the coronavirus worldwide.
Here are some of the latest Covid-19 developments from around the globe.
Australia
Australia's two most populous states on Thursday refused to allow a one-day reprieve from strict limits on personal movement for Mother's Day this weekend, even as the country's rate of new coronavirus cases remains low.
The premiers of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria said the states' roughly 14 million residents, 56 percent of the country's population, would have to stick to existing restrictions on movement on Mother's Day, which is celebrated nationally on Sunday.
- Reuters
The Pacific
Thousands of jobs have been lost as the tourism industry - the economic lifeblood of the Pacific countries - disappears. There are growing signs many families may be plunged into poverty. The tourism industry accounts for 47 percent of all exports in Tonga, 52 percent in Samoa, 58 percent in Fiji, and a massive 70 percent in Vanuatu
The curfew imposed in French Polynesia over the Covid-19 outbreak has been lifted with immediate effect after the administrative court ruled it was illegal.
- RNZ
The Americas
US President Donald Trump has described the coronavirus pandemic as the "worst attack" ever on the United States, pointing the finger at China.
Trump said the outbreak had hit the US harder than the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War Two, or the 9/11 attacks two decades ago.
His administration is weighing punitive actions against China over its early handling of the global emergency.
Since emerging in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, the coronavirus is confirmed to have infected 1.2 million Americans, killing more than 73,000.
- BBC
Colombia has declared a second state of emergency to support sectors of the economy that will remain shut down for an extended period to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, President Ivan Duque said on Wednesday.
The state of economic emergency allows the president to issue decrees without prior authorisation from the Andean country's congress during times of crisis or a threat to Colombia's security.
- Reuters
When the nightclub in which she touted for business in southern Chile was shut down by the authorities as the new coronavirus spread, sex worker Camila Hormazabal was left without access to her sole source of income.
With no way to pay her bills, Camila switched to video calls conducted from her high-rise apartment bedroom, and asked her regulars to meet her online.
Camila is one of the thousands of sex workers worldwide left in a precarious position after the very intimacy that defines their work was thwarted by social distancing measures.
- Reuters
At least 47 residents and three workers have been infected with coronavirus at a retirement home in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, authorities said on Wednesday, in one of the biggest outbreaks yet reported in the country.
- Reuters
Brazil registered a record 10,503 new cases in the last 24 hours and 615 deaths. Its President Jair Bolsonaro's spokesman, Otavio do Rego Barros, has tested positive and is currently quarantined in his home.
- Reuters
Asia
South Korean health authorities raised new concerns about the novel coronavirus after reporting last month that dozens of patients who had recovered from the illness later tested positive again.
The findings suggested that some people who survived COVID-19 could become reinfected with the virus that causes it, potentially complicating efforts to lift quarantine restrictions and to produce a vaccine.
But after weeks of research, they now say that such test results appear to be "false positives" caused by lingering - but likely not infectious - bits of the virus.
- Reuters
The first of more than 60 flights repatriating thousands of Indians stranded overseas by the coronavirus lockdown is due to set off on Thursday.
Nearly 15,000 Indians are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries over the next week.
Passengers will pay their own fares and be quarantined on return.
- BBC
Thailand on Thursday reported just three new coronavirus cases, bringing its total to 2,992, a senior official said.
- Reuters
The reopening of Shanghai Disneyland could provide useful insights for companies looking to restart their operations after lockdowns.
The Chinese theme park will reopen next week with a raft of new health and safety measures for guests.
Face masks, contact tracing and temperature checks are among the new features aimed at preventing any spread of the coronavirus.
Virtual queuing and other technologies are also being considered Disney said.
- BBC
Africa
Kenyan health officials are giving communities safer options to substitute traditions that require physical contact in the wake of coronavirus outbreak
Instead of a traditional handshake between traders in northern Kenya's animal markets to signify the completion of a trade deal, health officials are showing them how to use herders' sticks or an elder's stick.
The handshake tradition has been long-standing among herding communities in northern Kenya during trade.
- BBC
A Nigerian woman has given birth onboard a repatriation flight from the United Arab Emirates.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, confirmed that Kafayat Amusan gave birth to a baby boy about 30 minutes after the flight left vthe airport.
The plane returned to Dubai immediately to ensure the safety of both mother and baby.
- BBC
More than two-thirds of people surveyed in 20 African countries said they would run out of food and water if they had to stay at home for 14 days.
Just over half of the respondents said they would run out of money.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention research was conducted to help governments map out future policies on how to tackle coronavirus.
It warns that if measures are not adapted to local needs, there is a risk of unrest and violence.
- BBC
Europe
A Dutch restaurant has come up with an idea on how to offer classy outdoor dining in the age of coronavirus: small glass cabins built for two or three people, creating intimate cocoons on a public patio.
Waiters wear gloves and transparent face shields, and use a long board to bring dishes into the glass cabins to ensure minimal physical contact with customers.
Organisers call the project 'Serres Séparées' (Separate Greenhouses) because they say it sounds better in French.
- Reuters
As the Covid-19 death toll grows, Italy's organised crime gangs have been looking to make millions. Many Italians feel they have no option but to accept the lifeline the mob is offering.
On the island of Sicily, the brother of a mafioso - a member of a mafia group - has been distributing food to the poor in a neighbourhood of Palermo.
The coronavirus is new, but distributing food parcels to the needy is an old mafia tactic.
- BBC
Poland governing coalition parties have agreed to postpone this Sunday's presidential election because of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
The timing of the election had plunged Poland into a serious political crisis on top of the ongoing health crisis.
Both international and Polish election observers had also raised concerns the ballot would not be sufficiently transparent nor fair given that candidates have suspended campaigning due to the lockdown.
- BBC
Read more about the Covid-19 coronavirus:
- See all RNZ Covid-19 news
- Your Covid-19 questions answered - from health and employment to managing anxiety
- A timeline: How the coronavirus started, spread and stalled life in New Zealand
- Covid-19 symptoms: What they are and how they make you feel
- Touching your Face: Why do we do it and how to stop
- Scientific hand-washing advice to avoid infection
- Coronavirus: A glossary of terms
- Sign up for the Covid-19 newsletter for the big news - and some things to make you smile
- The Coronavirus Podcast
